


Stitch Me Up

by italianice15



Series: Winteriron Halloween [4]
Category: Avengers
Genre: Alternate Universe, Experiment!Bucky, M/M, Mechanic!Tony, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 04:44:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16190339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/italianice15/pseuds/italianice15
Summary: Bucky doesn’t know who or what he is. All he has is a tag around his neck and a clunky metal arm to give him some clues. And a cute mechanic that took him in.





	Stitch Me Up

Bucky stumbled from the carriage he’d been in for the passed several hours. He thanked the farmer that brought him all this way, handed him a small pouch of gold coins, and went on his way toward the city. It felt right, going toward the overcrowded, bright, loud, dirty place. Not right in the sense that it made Bucky feel good, quite the opposite, actually. The further away Bucky got from the compound, the worse, the heavier, the sicker he felt. But at least he was free.

The lights and the noise were a lot to get used to. The beings of various origins stared at him as he stumbled about, but they passed it off as him being heavily intoxicated and not incredibly disoriented.

“Sir, are you alright?”, someone said. It was a kind voice, one Bucky hadn’t heard before and it made him flinch.

“Where- I don’t-“, he panicked.

“I can help you. Where are you from? Where do you want to go?”

Bucky couldn’t answer either of those questions. He came from some place far, far away. He’d been traveling by night for a long time. He hadn’t thought about where he wanted to go because he didn’t know any places other than the laboratory and the compound.

Bucky felt faint. His stomach lurched as all the sedatives and various medicines and chemicals that had been pumped into him for decades finally worked their way out of his beaten, tired, old body. He felt nauseous, he leaned against the side of a building, ducking into an alleyway.

“Hey, really, are you alright?”, the person asked again. Bucky didn’t know. He couldn’t speak. He gave a low, gravelly groan as a response.

“It doesn’t look like it. Come here, I’ll take you inside and-“

“No!”, Bucky barked. He may not have known a lot in that moment, but he knew he couldn’t trust anyone. They’d use him again. Use him to hurt people, to kill them like they made him to for so long at the compound. 

“Okay, well, at least let me get you some food.”, the stranger left and Bucky didn’t spare him another thought. He’d hardly registered that the man was talking to him in the first place.

Bucky slid down the wall and sat on the filthy ground. He held his head in his mismatched hands and took a deep breath. His head pounded along with his heartbeat. His shoulder arched with a dull pain that had plagued him since the heavy metal arm was attached to him. He leaned his head back against the wall and let out a long exhale.

“Here, I got you some soup.”, the man came back. Bucky finally looked at him, peaking through one squinted eye.

The man had dark, messy hair that stuck out every which way. His eyes, against the evening light, burned a bright orangey-gold, despite their dark brown, almost black color. He smelled of grease, oil, and metal. His hands were stained black and his face was smudged and dirty, as were his clothes. 

He handed Bucky a bowl of soup and his mind hesitated, but his hands took it. At a loss for what to do next, he smelled it to make sure it wasn’t laced with sedatives or drugs like his food had been in the past.

“A spoon might help.”, the man handed him the utensil. Bucky dipped the spoon into the soup and lifted it to his mouth. The broth was salty and flavored to taste something like beef. There were chunks of meat and vegetables floating in it. Overall, it wasn’t bad at all. Bucky considered it gourmet compared to the slop and slime he’d been fed before. Still, he ate slowly, sparing a few glances to the man who’d taken a seat in front of him.

“What’s your name?”, he asked. A reasonable question, Bucky assumed. He’d seen a file with his picture on it before and it read ‘James Buchanan Barnes’, but once, or perhaps a few times, a blond man, a soldier, called him ‘Bucky’. It was short and easy to remember, so that’s what he called himself.

“Bucky.”, he said with his mouth full. He grasped the metal tags around his neck.

“Hi, Bucky. I’m Tony.”, Tony stuck his hand out.

Bucky was unfamiliar with the gesture, so he stared at the appendage like it offended him, he turned his bowl of soup away in case Tony intended to take it away.

“Not a handshake kind of guy, that’s cool. Where are you from?”

Bucky showed him his tags tentatively. They read ‘Schmidt Compound’. Tony knew of that place, most people of science and mechanics did. They were brilliant with their inventions, but cruel with their experiments.

“Where do you want to go?”

A pause.

“I don’t know.”

Tony huffed and nodded, making himself comfortable until Bucky got up.

“Well, you don’t look so great. You’re free to borrow my shower ‘cause, no offense, but you kinda stink. I might have a spare change of clothes for you if you want me to wash yours.”, Tony offered. Bucky stayed still, squinting at Tony. As far as Bucky knew, the man was alone and he was sort of small, so Bucky could definitely take him in a fight if he tried anything.

“Okay.”, Bucky said.

—

Days passed since Tony took Bucky in. Bucky struggled with a lot of things, leaving Tony to wonder endlessly about what had happened to him. His body was covered in scars and he had a prosthetic arm that was miles ahead of anything Tony had seen before. Even simple things, like how to use soap and the meer concept of making food rendered Bucky blindsided with panic. Most things that people learned as a kid, it seemed Bucky had no knowledge of.

“I like green apples, the sour ones, but the red ones are sweet and the yellowy-pinkish ones are good, too.”, Tony pointed out one day at the market. Bucky pressed his lips into a flat line, a sign of stress Tony gathered from observation, and threw various kinds of fruits, not just apples, into a burlap sack and continued on to the next market stall. Tony paid the vender and followed.

—

 

“This bottle is the soap you put in your hair and this is the one you put on your body.”, Tony said, showing Bucky two bottles of soap, both different colors so he could tell the difference in the future. Bucky nodded, blushing in embarrassment at the mishap last time he took a shower. 

“And don’t worry, I’ve still forgiven you for using all my burn reliever in your hair.”, Tony played. Bucky took the soap and shampoo, two towels, and a change of clothes into the bathroom. To Tony’s elation, Bucky remembered the soap from the shampoo and he’d finally gotten the stench of sweat, dirt, and stale body odor to go away.

—

Tony worked on his machines with such care and attention, he looked like a mother doting over her children. He spoke to them softly when something wasn’t working out and cheered when his plans went as expected. He built incredible things for people and fixed anything that was broken. He looked like one of the witches putting their spells together with all the things he wrote down in his many books and manuals.

“Can I look at your arm?”, Tony asked one day.

“No.”, Bucky replied sharply.

Tony didn’t press any further, going back to his work on his machines. Bucky continued to sit and watch in silence.

—

Bucky found a map of the county and looked into some of the nearby cities. They were mostly farming communities. Small, quiet places that Bucky could get used to. 

“Will you be leaving soon?”, Tony asked one day when he saw Bucky reading about the neighboring towns. Bucky gave a wordless shrug. He’s stolen enough money from the compound to afford a small cottage and a decent plot of land. He could make his living as a farmer, even though he knew nothing about agriculture.

Tony always made a funny face when Bucky looked up anything about leaving the city for a small place in the country. Tony knew Bucky despised the noise and the crowds, but that didn’t stop him from finding the thought of Bucky leaving unpleasant.

—

“Tonight is the Fall Festival.”, Tony said idly after a long stretch of silence. He hadn’t said much out loud since Bucky finally caved and let him look at his prosthetic arm.

“What’s that?”, Bucky asked, gripping the opposite side of the work bench hard enough to dent the metal.

“It’s a celebration of autumn and all that. There’s gonna be food and music and people in weird costumes. It’s a lot of fun.”

“It sounds loud.”

“There’s a market a little ways away from where the musicians play. It’s quieter there and it’s where they sell the candy.”

Bucky had recently developed an affinity for all things sweet. The Schmidt Compound hadn’t exactly spent too much money on confectionaries for their experiments and it had been decades since Bucky had last remembered having candy.

“Okay, I’ll go with you.”

—

The evening was going fine. It was less noisy than Bucky anticipated and the crowd had dispersed itself evenly and nicely throughout the festival. Tony cracked a few jokes and managed to bring one corner of Bucky’s mouth upward in a rough, small smirk.

“That’s one of them.”, a witch pointed to Bucky across the small market. Bucky tensed and turned away, but it was too late. People stepped away quickly, making a big circle around him. Tony came back from wherever the hell he’d gone to and looked around.

“What’s wrong?”, Tony asked.

“That’s one of the escapees from the compound. Get away before he kills you.”, someone from the crowd said. Bucky, who’d been holding a porcelain figurine of a cat, crushed the fragile thing like it was nothing in his palm. A gasp rushed through the crowd.

“That’s not true! He wouldn’t hurt a fly.”, Tony defended. It was true. Over the course of his stay, Tony had seen Bucky let many a bug out trough the front door or a window rather than crush them with his heavy boots.

“He’s got that arm. They don’t give it to the experiments to plant flowers, boy. That’s for cracking skulls with.”, a werewolf growled.

“Yeah? Is that so? And your friend there, the demon, won’t burst into flames and drag us all to Hell? The witches won’t hex us and turn us into frogs? The vampires won’t suck us all dry and leave our corpses to rot?”, Tony spat to the judgmental crowd. They all flinched and turned away, going back to what they’d been doing before. Tony looked back to find that Bucky was gone. He hadn’t gone far, though. He saw Bucky’s broad form walking down a pathway to an orchard.

“Bucky! Where are you going?”, Tony caught up to him. Bucky’d flipped the hood of his jacket over his head and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

“Now do you see why I want to leave?”

“You’re nothing like they say you are. You’re not a monster, you won’t hurt anyone-“

“How do you know that? I sure as hell don’t!”, Bucky snapped.

Tony stopped. Bucky, once he realized Tony wasn’t following him anymore, stopped too.

“You can’t go.”

Two months. Tony knew Bucky for two months and he’d gone and fallen head over heels for the man. He wasn’t like anyone Tony had ever met before. Bucky was kind, gentle, and funny once Tony had gotten to know him, not to mention his rugged good looks. Now, he was about to lose him.

Bucky pondered Tony with his icy stare. His jaw tensed and released in deep thought. He walked to Tony slowly, taking his hand.

“I don’t want to. You’ve been kind to me and I don’t want to go, but I can’t stay here. Not with these people who hate me so much.”

“They won’t bother you anymore, believe me. Please stay.”, Tony begged, his eyes glossy and round. How could Bucky resist such an expression?

“I’ll stay for you.”

Tony wrapped his arms around Bucky’s neck and held him tight. He had to stand on his toes to do so, but Bucky easily slipped his arms around Tony’s waist.

—

Tony kissed Bucky’s cheek sweetly. The moon crept over the treetops and the sky took on a deep navy color peppered with white.

“Tired, love?”, Bucky murmured.

“Not really.”, Tony smirked, pressing into Bucky’s side. 

Bucky’s hands roamed over Tony’s body. Tony rolled over so he was on top of him, straddling his waist. They shared a long, deep kiss. Their passion grew and burned like fire, their clothes found their way to the floor, and the bed frame was mercilessly beaten into the wall behind it. Tony moaned and praised Bucky’s loudly, his legs shaking and tears falling down his cheeks as Bucky fucked him stupid.

Afterward, with Tony clinging to Bucky and Bucky wrapping one arm around his body, they basked in the afterglow together, moonlight shed through the window across the blankets.

Tony thought of that night years ago when Bucky promised to stay. He looked down to where his and Bucky’s left hands were joined and the day old rings on their fingers. He stretched up a bit and caught Bucky in a lazy kiss that he returned.

“I love you.”

“I love you more.”


End file.
